WACHUSETT — As towns work on their budgets and the Wachusett Regional School District does the same for the schools, attention is again focused on how much the school budget affects the towns’ ability to maintain local services.
After meeting with school Superintendent James Reilly, town leaders in the five-town district discussed their budget limits and sent the district a letter outlining what the towns could do in funding the school budget.
Each year, the towns have, to one level or another, warned their residents and the schools about the impact of school budget and assessment increases that are above what the towns can readily absorb; many have trimmed municipal budgets to compensate.
Noting the meeting of town officials, Holden Town Manager Peter Lukes recently sent Reilly a letter that detailed where the towns stood.
“We wanted to convey the message to you and to the Wachusett Regional School District Committee that our draft municipal budgets have incorporated a 4% increase to the overall school assessment.
The regional administrations from all of the five district towns are confident that any assessment going beyond a 4% increase will require a Proposition 2½ override in order for any of the towns to raise the necessary revenue,” Lukes wrote.
“We are collectively relaying this information to you and to the WRSDC as a means of guidance as you prepare your final draft budget for passage toward the end of February and early March.”
Although the conflict between budget demands and tax revenue has both towns and schools drawing from the same limited pot, restricted by the state tax-limiting law, Lukes sought a cooperative approach on behalf of Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling. “We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks, through FY24 and beyond,” he wrote.
The Wachusett district is not the only regional school whose member towns have concerns about needing a tax override to fund school budgets that use the bulk of — or even more than — the revenue added each year.
In the past several years, the Wachusett district has managed not to require overrides in most of its towns. But even at 4% increases, the 2.5% increase allowed for the tax levy depends upon new development and other sources in order to make the math work. A percentage increase in the school budget of more than $100 million can eclipse the actual dollar figures available for town spending, which has prompted initial planning to advise of the possible override option.
